[00:00:00] Alicia: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Future Commerce, the podcast at the intersection of culture and commerce. I am not Phillip, but I have Phillip with me. I’m Alicia. Hi, Phillip.
[00:00:07] Phillip: I’m Phillip. Hey. How’s it going?
[00:00:10] Alicia: I’m really excited for today’s conversation, because if you’re a listener or reader, you know that we’ve been covering commerce media, retail media, however you want to define it, for the past few weeks now. We’ve had someone from IAB on the show and dove deep into some new trends in the commerce media landscape, like vertical dramas and the creator economy. So I’m excited to have someone on the RMN side, someone who’s doing the work, working with partners and really exploring all of these different trends. Phillip, what about you? What are your thoughts on how we’re tackling this topic? Because I feel like it’s so vast, evolving so quickly, and there are so many things to talk about. But what are you excited to dig into today?
[00:00:51] Phillip: Well, I think one of the things that’s often overlooked is the variety of formats that retail media can actually come in, right? And I think a lot of it’s just been focused on display and digital display for so long. And one way that I think we could probably zoom out is just think about all the formats and all the ways that people can interact with media. Media for many years, if you go back a hundred years, media was, you know, terrestrial radio. And I think that our next guest has really taken that and made it very literal and thought about, what does in-store shopper experience look like when you can’t physically look at your phone, but you still wanna interact with media and actually deliver value over retail media? And how can you turn that into something that’s really valuable and point to the other parts of the retail experience like loyalty? And then also think about how the values of the organization come through still in 2026, when I think a lot of companies have moved away from value-centric messaging and thinking about what community and culture mean in light of all of that. And so I think that this is really great. And also, I think a lot of this conversation would play into our 2026 predictions about the directionality of value-based retail. So I’m really pumped for this in particular.
[00:02:05] Alicia: Me too. Arguably, I think the perfect person to be on the show to talk about all of these things. It’s Austin Leonard, and he’s the VP and GM for Dollar General’s retail media network. And he oversees all aspects of the department, from go-to-market strategy to media operations, insights, media sales, performance measurement, everything. He’s also a podcaster. So I think we’re gonna have a real pro on the show. Austin, thanks so much for being on the show and joining us today.
[00:02:31] Austin: Setting the bar real high. We gotta deliver on that expectation that you just laid out there. Excited to be here.
[00:02:37] Phillip: Austin, real quick, I gotta ask you. My kids make fun of my podcast voice. Do you have a podcast voice?
[00:02:42] Austin: You know what? I don’t think that I have a podcast voice, but I do… I leverage a lot of the time spent in the podcasting world in some of the team meetings. So occasionally, when I like to sign off a team meeting, I get a bunch of chuckles of people saying, oh, look, there’s the podcast voice. So I haven’t got it from my wife or my daughter Ava yet, but I’m sure it’s coming.
[00:03:03] Phillip: Yeah. That’s… sometimes my kids prod me. They’re like, do the thing, do the thing. I’m like, I don’t even know what the thing is at this point. But it’s a pleasure to have you. I think we will talk a little bit about how audio is impacting your business today. So, yeah, really pumped to have you. Thanks for being here.
[00:03:18] Alicia: Absolutely. Well, it’s nice that your kids acknowledge that you are creating content, because I told my son I was on YouTube and he didn’t believe me. So here we are. But before we get into the audio side of things, Austin — which we definitely will — let’s start broadly, because I feel like Dollar General is a great example of a retailer with such a vast footprint, so much presence through brick and mortar, and you’re building this ecosystem for digital media and digital advertising. So why don’t you tell us about DGMN more broadly and how you’re creating value? And that’s through the lens of both customers, the shoppers, but also advertisers. Like, are you kind of building out this ecosystem to centralize that value across the board?
[00:04:03] Austin: So DGMN has been built within the Dollar General ecosystem. And the part that I think is really important when you start thinking about our media network is taking a step back and thinking about us as a retailer. And there’s plenty of your folks that are listening, hopefully, heard Dollar General and been to Dollar General. But for those that haven’t, you have over 21,000 stores in the US. We’re in all 48 states of the mainland US. We reach many different types of markets — suburban, urban — and we’re especially known for the rural markets that we reach, because there are many markets and towns that we serve where we’re the only store in town, and we serve as a big part of that community. And so as we were building DG Media Network and thinking about all the different things we could do within our stores, our philosophy is really simple: connect brands with customers in ways that are useful, relevant, and additive to the shopping experience. And as we’ve really been on this digital journey over the past couple of years, our app and our website have started to really mirror that, so that we can make sure that we’re bringing our customers relevant information, relevant deals, helping them find products, helping them solve problems like, hey, what’s for dinner? Or, hey, what am I gonna do for the 15 kids that are coming over this weekend for this birthday party? So we serve a lot of different needs when you think about us as America’s general store. And so as we’ve been building up the media network, we’ve been really tapping into what are the different tools that we know that traditional shopper marketing teams wanna buy, like in-store signage, being able to advertise on the website, sponsored product search — especially for some of the performance marketers — programmatic buying against our audiences or through our managed service. So using all the different tools, both that the industry expects, but also that we think we can do really well. And in summits, we’ll talk about… that we’re doing, you know, maybe out in front of the crowd, or just that we have the ability to do them more unique because of our giant retail footprint.
[00:05:54] Phillip: There’s always the question — I mean, this is like the perma-question on the advertiser side, and certainly the meta conversation within, you know, this industry, especially when we get into the actual retail trade publication conversation — is, how do we measure efficacy within retail media? And one of the things I think is really interesting that’s happening right now is that this data-driven mindset and transactional advertising, it seems to be giving way into… it’s sort of like giving way into more integrated, story-driven advertising. I think we’re seeing that quite a bit right now. Would love your take on it, and maybe your lens. You have a lot of experience, and I wanna know why — if you think that is happening maybe more broadly, if you see that happening across the industry, if you think that there are brands that are sort of shifting away. Why do you think that is? And then also, you know, why are shoppers becoming more attuned to that storytelling? And why do we have to… is it just a form of having to stand out amongst a sea of sameness? Because I feel like that’s what we’ve sort of been drowning in for the past five or six years, which is like a lot of performance marketing tends to be samey-samey. Is story the way that we stand out? I’m curious if you see something from your perspective.
[00:07:20] Austin: Yeah. So let’s start at the beginning of that, because that dials back into the story-driven part of what I think is really exciting in the creator and influencer marketplace that is really starting to explode and become a bigger part of our lives as consumers and as advertising professionals. And that is, at the end of the day, especially for our partners who we partner together to get the products on our shelves and then into our customers’ hands, they want to know, is it ringing the cash register? Are we driving sales? And what we’ve been able to do in the retail media industry as a whole is we’ve been able to really start to help connect all the different advertising tools that are out there to, is it driving sales? And it obviously started with some of the basics like return on ad spend, but we’ve also been very sophisticated, and especially in some of the tools that we’re able to use for on-site and for off-site to measure incrementality. And that has really helped drive the industry forward, because we can actually help prove that if you advertise with us and against this audience segment using a tactic, that it’s not just reaching someone that was gonna buy your product anyway, but it’s actually growing market share, it’s driving growth. Now, you combine that with where we’re at in the social space and with creators, what I think is really interesting about how this is changing is that we’re actually bringing a lot of that measurement back to a space that typically has been driven more by creatives and by more upper-funnel brand awareness. You know, having creators and influencers is not new at all. Having them at scale, because there’s so many new platforms that anyone can be an influencer — like you called out at the beginning, anyone could be a podcaster. You know, ten years ago, there was not nearly this amount of podcasting, but that’s just because it’s so easy to create content. And what we’ve seen is that customers, they definitely want to ask their friends. They trust people that can give them referrals versus only looking at ads. Ads certainly have their place in the ecosystem, and certainly from a transactional standpoint, getting the right message in front of the right person at the right time is still a core value of retail media and what we’re able to do at DG Media Network. But if you can start to actually engage them and have folks that really understand Dollar General and that they’re big fans of ours anyway, and they’re able to actually share some of that content on a new product they found or how they were able to take, you know, three different ingredients and create this magical dish — I think those stories resonate more because they’re more engaging. So it’s almost like there’s this maturity curve in advertising in general. It’s, hey, you figure out the format, and then you figure out how it performs, and then you optimize the creative. Well, the creative is really starting to become a lot more important, because you have more tools to build more engaging creative at scale, versus… building a Super Bowl ad takes a long time. It’s a big bet. You can build Super Bowl-quality ads now very quickly. And if it’s your customers talking about you versus you talking about you, people are gonna rely on that more and they’re gonna trust them more. So it’s way more authentic.
[00:10:15] Phillip: I just… sort of reacting to that. I think one of the challenges, especially in the creator space for so long — and having spoken to so many of them over the years, Future Commerce also reporting on this — is there’s been an expectation in relationships with brands, especially in the affiliate relationship, that a lot of that top-of-funnel relationship, that brand-centric relationship with creators, has been expected to be almost given away or done gratis. And things that are done much lower in the funnel that are measurable, inherently measurable, is something that is more inherently transactional and is the thing that is able to drive dollars into a creator. I think now a lot of folks are trying to figure out what the mid-funnel looks like and how you deploy creators in the mid-funnel. And I think that is where the missing opportunity has been for a long, long time. I hear more people talking about that. And I feel like that’s where local communities who really actually have a story — they’re not just folks that are in these, like, mass media buys across affiliates being deployed at scale, you know, through agencies. It’s actual people who have real stories to tell, who actually understand the products, and then you have a relationship that you’re forming with people who are storytellers who have a real, authentic connection to the brand. That’s where the real opportunity is. And I think that’s what’s being missed for so long. It’s not top of funnel. It’s not bottom of funnel. It’s actually this thing in the middle that we’ve been missing for a long, long time. I think that that’s where story actually comes in. And this is where we spend most of our time, is in consideration.
[00:11:54] Austin: Well, yeah, we’re in all phases of the funnel all the time in general, but that middle connective tissue that you just called out, I think, is really important, because not only does that mean that we’re in the consideration set, but it also can actually trigger us to actually get to the transaction — because we didn’t know the product existed, or reminded us that, well, hey, we do have a big dinner party coming up. Maybe we should get a little more creative, and here’s an idea. So I think that’s a great call-out.
[00:12:20] Alicia: Yeah. And I think it ties to the opportunity for in-store audio a little bit, because if you’re thinking about it through the lens of consideration, I mean, there’s an intent to buy. Maybe they have an idea of what they want to buy or need to buy, but they need that further validation or support through the consideration process. And your team has determined that in-store audio is kind of that next big push for DG Media Network. So can you walk us through that decision strategically, and really the benefits or advantages that you found while assessing the opportunity for in-store audio advertising? Like, what that really looks like for both the Dollar General brand, but also for your advertisers as well.
[00:13:10] Austin: So as consumers have been on the journey of becoming way more digitally focused on shopping — not just the actual shopping part, but doing their research, planning their trips — the feedback that we got a lot from our advertising partners was, this stuff is great, we love this, but what else can you do in the store? What else can you do when they’re in that shopping mindset? And as I said before, we’ve got a lot of the traditional tools. There’s signage, which serves a very important function in the store for our shoppers and for our advertisers, helping them highlight new products, highlight weekly promotions, pricing changes. There’s a lot of things that those do, but those take a lot of time, and those are things that, while they’re really important, they also can be expensive to scale across 21,000 stores, or even if you want to target 5,000 stores. And as we looked at our stores specifically, we’ve got about 7,500 to 8,500 square feet is the average store size for us. So it’s actually a good space where, you know, we’ve got over 10,000 products in there where our shoppers are coming in and they’re on a mission. Now, some of that mission could be a super quick turn like, hey, I just wanna get a snack and a Coke and I’m out. Or it could be, it’s a weekly stock-up trip, so I’m gonna spend some time in there. But I know exactly what I need, so I’m gonna hit the three aisles that I know, and on my way out, I’ll grab that snack and a drink still. But what we’re finding is that there’s an ability to help introduce them to something that maybe they didn’t know that we carry, or something that they didn’t know that they needed, but reminded them. And traditional signage can do that. But what we found is, we’re looking at is the in-store audio, especially with the size of our stores. It gives us an opportunity to really tell that story in a way that is quick to produce. It’s also, with the way that we’ve set it up, it’s actually fast to execute the campaigns. And the big gap with in-store audio previously has been typically how it’s sold and how it’s operated. So you’d say, hey, I wanna reach this amount of stores, and you do a pretty basic media plan. You’d run it, you’d run a market-match test, and you’d say whether or not there was lift in sales. Well, for DG In-Store Radio Network, part of the reason that we really lean into this — and we think this is a huge path forward for us as a partner to our brands, and also as an additive to the shopping experience — is, in between all the great music that we’re playing that helps the shopping experience, we’ve got technology that’s built in so that when we’re building a media plan for our advertisers, we can actually tell them, hey, the best time for you to advertise is 4:00 on a Thursday, and you wanna do these 3,700 stores because that’s where you have inventory that’s available. And then once we run the campaign, it actually will optimize across the sales performance that’s happening, across the inventory that’s available. If there’s a category shift that’s happening, it’ll actually optimize across the delivery across multiple stores. So we’ve actually brought this programmatic, e-commerce-like optimization and performance into a medium that typically did not have the ability to have that type of responsiveness, that reporting and measurement. And because it’s an audio format, it’s also something that is actually really engaging in a different way to customers versus a typical sign or a digital ad.
[00:16:16] Phillip: I really wanna… oh, this is where I’m gonna do… Austin, I’m gonna do the Future Commerce thing, and so I’ll wax poetic for just one moment, or philosophic. There’s something called the cocktail party effect. And for those who haven’t heard of it, I’ll sort of explain it. It’s, your brain has this ability to selectively focus on things when you have a ton of stimuli happening, and that’s what we call attention, right? And so, I find it fascinating that we walk around now — we’re all Lofi Girl, or I’m telling on myself probably. Everybody’s walking around with headphones in. Like, we’re all living in our own little world at any given time. Even in retail, like, we’re walking around, I see people walking around there, you know, wherever they happen to be, and they just have their headphones in until something interrupts it. And the cocktail party effect is, you hear someone say, oh, yeah, I went to school in Columbus. And then… you, like, snapped out of whatever it was you were doing, and you hear it from across the room and your attention focuses on something that was just coming in amongst all the chatter, and you snap into something that, like, caught your attention. And your brain has the ability to just zoom in on things like that, even if you were focused on something else. And this is the power that I think audio has that nothing else has, is that it can catch your attention even when you’re focused on something else. It can zap you out and say, wow, I didn’t know that was happening. Even if I have my AirPods in, even if it’s on, you know, the max setting of noise cancellation, I can still hear it through, and now I’m paying attention. Now I’m pulled out of whatever it was I was selectively focused on. And that’s a thing that I don’t think you get in any other information-dense environment. You don’t get it on TikTok. You don’t get it on, like, an Amazon-style marketplace where you have a lot of, you know, rich density in text, because ad blindness is a real thing. This can only happen in this particular type of a format. And I think that this is really interesting, because it cuts through literal noise, but it cuts through noise. And it’s like — it’s hacking into a certain type of a way that we tend to look for attention and opportunity. And we want to find those things. So I find that really fascinating. I’d love to see — I don’t know if you’ve done any studies on how this is working, or other ways that it’s driving, you know, success — but I really feel like this has a lot of psychological backup as to why people would pay a tremendous amount of attention despite all of the other things that would be going on. I’ve now spoken way too long on this particular effect.
[00:18:56] Austin: Oh, I love it.
[00:18:57] Phillip: I’m fascinated about things like this, because nobody is doing stuff like this, right? And it reminds me of the Blue Light Special, right? It’s the kind of thing that we need more of, because everything’s been Muzak for too long, or Katy Perry, or Sarah McLachlan. So…
[00:19:12] Austin: Yeah. No. That’s totally fair. And I’ll Future Commerce you up one more level. Audio is so powerful because it’s one of the only tools where you can actually use it to help tell a story inside someone’s head. So when you’re watching a video, you’re watching TV, you’re reading, you’re actually looking at what someone is presenting to you. When you hear it, your brain will actually then build the image of the story that that person is telling you in your head, because that’s just how our brains work. So that’s why audio can be so effective. That’s why when you listen to your favorite song, it can change your mood. It can help you adjust. And the power of audio, when you’re telling the story about your brand — once you’ve got a great brand voice, you can tell that story in so many different places. And to your point on the cocktail party, you may have heard this brand voice in many other places before. And then when you’re in that buying mindset in the store and you hear that same voice again, it triggers that need state slash that interest, because you already have an association with the brand, and then it can help you drive the sale. And at the end of the day, our job is to be one of those key partners to help build your brand and to drive sales. So that’s why we think audio is a really interesting format that candidly is underrated in advertising in general, but specifically for where we see ourselves. We think it’s a big differentiator, not just because of the size and scale, but also because of the way that our stores are set up, that that audio can really come through.
[00:20:37] Phillip: I’m curious. There’s been a lot of debate around endemic, non-endemic in other digital formats. I’m curious what you think about how that might work in audio format. And I know that you have partnerships around this, like with iHeart, that sort of enable and power some of these types of relationships. Tell us a little bit about how this is working today, how it might work tomorrow.
[00:20:59] Austin: Yeah. Retail media, there’s a lot of chatter around, hey, you know, we’re doing a great job with our endemic partners. How do we get into those non-endemic budgets? Well, when you think about the big websites that are out there, those have a very specific purpose: to inform and to drive a sale. So when you bring a non-endemic message into there, it better be what I like to call a near-endemic. So it better be very relevant to that shopper, or else you risk a couple things. One, you’re gonna upset your merchandising team that has worked so hard to help drive the sale on that mission, where they’re trying to fill that basket, because that person might click off and then, hey, they might get distracted and not continue their checkout. However, when you’re in the store and you’re in that shopping mindset, you’re already in that buying mode, that gives you an opportunity for us to bring in things that we think are important to our customers that maybe they can’t buy directly in the store, or they can’t buy at all, but it’s important. You know, what are they gonna do to fill up their car on their drive home? What are they gonna do if they’re looking for a new credit card or a new bank? There’s also so many different entertainment opportunities. There’s new movies coming out. This is a great format to help entertain and bring some of that content to life in our stores. It gives us the opportunity to help actually have a medium that allows us to bring advertising inventory to places that they typically wouldn’t have looked before. But we know that that shopper’s engaged, because they’re in the store. And especially when they’re in the buying mindset, helping to talk about their cell phone bill or help save them some money on their cable bill, that’s something that they might be in the mood to talk about, because they’re trying to get through their shopping list at the same time, save money so that they can actually buy more groceries or be able to, you know, buy a treat for themselves. So, long-winded answer, but I think that it gives us an ability to bring in advertisers that we wouldn’t normally have on our website, but to bring them into our stores because they’re important to our customers. And we think that our customers are important to them. So it gives them an opportunity to find a new inventory channel that they haven’t been able to tap into before.
[00:22:58] Alicia: Wow. Well, and I think there’s something to be said, Austin, about, you know, bringing in these different advertisers or partners that relate to the broader context of consumers’ lives. It’s not just about winning that specific moment when they’re in the store, it’s about driving that long-term recall and long-term purchase potential, even though that may be a few more touch points down the line beyond that initial store visit. What I find really exciting about your partnership with iHeart in particular is how it ties to those broader community-driven initiatives. So you’ve partnered with them for the Yellow Glasses Project, which is tied to the DG Literacy Foundation, which is very core to the brand mission, brand values, and your broader goal of connecting to community. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about that side, how these partnerships and your move into these new storytelling vehicles is really allowing you to bring those more values-driven initiatives front and center to the customer experience.
[00:24:11] Austin: So the part that is awesome about this story is that this is a part of what DG does that we typically don’t get to talk about as much. And it’s near and dear to our heart, because it’s a thing that we can bring back to our communities that really helps them and helps us bring new opportunity for them. Obviously, the ability to not be able to read can limit your career and can limit your enjoyment of life. And we believe, with the Yellow Glasses Project specifically, that media can be a force for good. So this initiative raises awareness around the issues that are out there still around literacy and the educational opportunities that are available. And specifically, a lot of our brands that wanna partner with us — who, again, they’ve been partnering with us for years on this — of how can we help tell the story more. And for this year, we felt like this was a great opportunity to integrate those brands into this larger campaign. And Bobby Bones specifically, who’s the number one country music DJ in the US — and for folks that don’t listen to country, and maybe some of the listeners on the coast, they don’t know who Bobby Bones is — well, he’s got a massive following. Millions of people listen to him every single morning. And he also grew up very, very impoverished. He also grew up, you know, having learning challenges, where this is a cause that’s near and dear to his heart. So when you kind of marry together all of the things where he grew up in a small town where Dollar General was the only store in his town, and he has built, through hard work and working his butt off and help — as he would say — his story really resonates with us, because it’s the story of many of our customers who are working really hard out there. And we think that with Yellow Glasses Project and with the DG Literacy Foundation, that we can help give back to the communities. And so when that combination came together, obviously, part of what we were looking for is, we’ve got this new in-store radio network, we’re trying to really promote how do we grow and drive that. Our brands, they wanna partner with us on things that matter to our customers. And also, this is something that is very much unique to Dollar General. So we said, what can we do to actually tell this story better? And working with iHeart, we built this nationwide campaign. It’s the first national media campaign that we’ve run to help promote the DG Literacy Foundation and Yellow Glasses Project specifically. And with Bobby as the spokesperson, we think we can reach millions more people than we ever have before. We can drive more donation. We can help people that are coming to our store and know that for $2, they can buy the yellow sunglasses and help support the cause. And it’s what we think is — back to the top of our conversation — it’s someone who’s authentically telling their story because they believe in it, not because they’re a paid influencer and endorser. And we think that was such a perfect match. We had, you know, our friends from P&G and from InComm, who are big partners with us, they bought into that. And so it’s actually helping to raise awareness. It’s also helping to make sure that it’s given back to our communities. So I could talk about it for a long time, in case you can tell. I’m very passionate about it, and it’s not just because the radio is fun and gives us that medium, but it’s also something that we think is really having an impact on our communities.
[00:27:22] Alicia: That’s amazing. No, and I love this, because I feel like one of the recurring themes that we’ve been touching on — I mean, obviously everybody’s talking about automation, AI, how to achieve scale — but I think you hit on it, the role of purpose. And this proof of humanity is kind of the connected red thread that brings all of these different touch points and modes of storytelling together. That’s what makes it so powerful. That’s what allows you to really connect and relate to all of these communities that you’re serving. And I feel like that’s kind of been a recurring theme even indirectly throughout the course of our conversation. So, I mean, to ask more directly, Austin, how are you and the team ensuring this proof of humanity, or even proof of human investment? How do you ensure that that’s kind of integrated into everything that you’re bringing to market, whether it’s a purpose-driven campaign tied to something like the Yellow Glasses Project, or even something more directly commerce-related such as back to school or even holiday? Like, how are you kind of bringing those storytelling elements together to really let that humanity of the brand shine?
[00:28:32] Austin: I think first and foremost, it comes back to our customer. So we do a lot of work to understand what’s important to our customers, what’s top of mind right now, what’s gonna be top of mind when it gets into fall versus in November versus in the spring. So a lot of what we do is very tied together with, how do we make sure that the moments in our customers’ lives that matter, we’re showing up for, to help either support them, help celebrate them, help get them through that, if that be the case. And so as we’re thinking through those programs and working with our brands is, what are the needs that we can solve? And then also, how do we celebrate those life’s little moments? Sometimes the afternoon snack hour is just a great way to treat yourself. And it’s the ability to tell that story and show up when they need it is the authentic piece. Now, Dollar General overall, our job is to help save our customers time and help save them money. And because we have a very unique place in the ecosystem where we’ve got a unique audience — and again, sometimes we’re the only store in their town — that gives us the ability to serve many more millions of people and play an important role in those moments. So we think about those as we put together the programs, as we put together, you know, what are the things that we can build bigger partnerships with folks like Coca-Cola or Kraft, and that’s a key part of how we bring that to life.
[00:29:47] Alicia: Yeah. I will say personally, our local Dollar General is right next to my son’s karate studio. So we go every time — once a week after karate, we’ll stop in there and get him like a little treat or a little prize. Or if it’s the holiday season, we’ll even do some pre-shopping for all of his cousins. So I can speak directly to how this brand is part of our community and it’s part of our routine. We’re releasing this kind of at the tail end of back to school, which is big for so many, if not all, retailers. And there’s been a lot of discussion around how to win the value-driven consumer and how to capture those moments of opportunity. So as we think about how back to school did and what that means for holiday, have there been any preliminary learnings or things that you’re seeing or hearing in the market that you think is worth calling out, especially related to all of these different touch points and modes of storytelling that tie to the media side?
[00:30:49] Austin: Yeah. Well, first of all, Alicia, thank you for your business. We appreciate you as a customer. I hope Kyle loves going down the toy aisle and finding something extra — you have to sign up…
[00:30:59] Alicia: …find something.
[00:31:00] Austin: Trust me. My daughter, Ava, she can find something every time as well. If you haven’t signed up for a MyDG account yet, you definitely should. There’s lots of great ways to help save some money and also potentially find another new item in there for him. I would say that generally speaking, because we’re in the value channel, I think that a lot of the advertising world out there puts us in a specific box. I think, generally speaking, everyone is looking to save more money and also to save time. So when you break those up, what we’re definitely seeing is that there’s a lot of new shoppers that are experiencing Dollar General, and they’re experiencing them, whether it’s because it’s a new store that we just added to the marketplace, or we’ve just done a renovation and elevated their local store. But there’s a lot of people that are discovering Dollar General for the first time. We made it almost all the way through Future Commerce without even talking about e-commerce, which is crazy. But we have been on a journey over the past couple years where we are now an omnichannel retailer. So at over 18,000 of our stores, you can get a delivery from the store within one hour. And half of those deliveries… you know, we’ve only got about… 80% of the orders that come in right now, they’re paying an extra dollar to get that order within an hour. And half of those orders are within thirty minutes. And so when you think about saving people time, saving people money, half of the advantage is obviously making sure that you don’t have to get in your car and drive to the store. The other half, right now with how expensive gas is, it actually saves them a trip where they’re not spending their own gas money, and they can get really great values on the products that they wanna buy and also not have to leave the house to do so. So we’re super excited about that journey that we’re on, and being able to deliver that value. I do call that the last mile of e-commerce for the last mile of America, because it is also bringing a lot of that commerce to folks — and the advantages of having same-day delivery that they haven’t been able to get before — because of how many different and unique markets that we serve.
[00:33:01] Phillip: I mean, this is where a lot of the conversation, I think, often gets overlooked, as… so much of the conversation in what has become e-commerce-centric conversation — and I’ll save the soapbox for another time when you’re not here, Austin — has really just become, you know, D2C and meta-centric conversations about how — about $300, you know, pants for, you know, wannabe luxury brands that are drop-shipped from somewhere else. And I feel like we’ve really lost the plot on what e-commerce can be and how we can serve diverse markets. And I really appreciate being reminded that there is a… most of the world’s interaction with commerce is through retail. And we, since the pandemic, have so many channels in which we interact with that retail experience today, and it serves everybody. And I think we forget that a lot, especially in these types of conversations. We’re always wanting to, like, push the boundaries on the future, but people like you are still doing the work and serving everybody. And I think that, you know, we forget to commend that work. Really appreciate the reminder.
[00:34:16] Austin: Yeah. Well, it’s not me that’s doing a lot of the work in those stores. So a huge shout-out to all of our team members that are out in our stores, the thousands of people that help make sure that Dollar General is open when Alicia wants to come after Friday practice and make sure that they get a treat. But it is an important part of people’s lives. We do love to shop now. E-commerce makes it easier. Sometimes it can make it faster, but at the end of the day, we still enjoy the shopping experience, and the in-store retail shopping experience is an important one.
[00:34:46] Phillip: If we were to look ahead — you know, can’t be called Future Commerce without talking a little bit about the future — but what do you think is the next era of retail media in general? I mean, you’re around a lot of folks who are leaders in this space. You yourself, probably — you’re a thought leader. You’re looking out into the future. What do you think is next?
[00:35:05] Austin: Yeah. That’s a great question. So most of that “what’s next” conversation comes back to retail media standards, which, you know, I know you had the IAB on here very recently, and we partnered with them. DG joined the IAB last year for the first time, so we’re super excited to help contribute to what we’re building there. I do feel like the consumer tools that are out there with AI, especially when you think about, you know, ChatGPT and Claude and the different ways that we can help solve different problems and where they can discover new products and new ways to shop those products — I do think there’s a lot that has a lot of potential to provide more value to customers. And so I think you’ll see a lot of us on the retail media side looking at that space. But also, you know, I think that the next era of retail media is really about accountability and also telling our story for our unique audiences. There’s a lot of chatter around there about the things that are wrong, and sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit for how complicated it is to do what we’re doing. So I love that we’re already meeting the retail media standards that are out there. And I know a lot of my retailer friends out there at other retailers are also trying hard to help deliver on the brand’s expectations. But I also do think that there’s a lot of opportunity for making it easier to buy into the audiences that you’d like to reach on the retail media side, and also to continue — for other brands that aren’t endemic to the space — to figure out how to tap into that audience. And it’s not just a play for non-endemic budgets. It’s also a new way for them to engage unique audiences in unique places. So in-store is definitely on everyone’s mind, of how do you take that great audience and that great ecosystem to build on. So I think there’s a lot of things that I just rambled about on there that’s for the future. But there’s so much opportunity here that it gets me excited.
[00:36:52] Phillip: Yeah. That’s a lot of opportunity. It sounds like there’s a lot of work to do still, right? And a lot of maturity. When we were talking with the IAB, I think a lot of the conversation… we were talking about the challenges in the future — how does that change the nature of the advertising for an agentic shopper, and the intent of an agentic shopper? I think there’s a lot of conversation around that right now, and a lot of fear has been, you know, ballyhooed about, but I don’t know that it’s all necessary. But I think it just changes the nature in which we’re thinking about ad creative. I think it’s the nature in which we’re surfacing offers, because the nature in which people shop and the way that we find intent for the shopper is changing. And all of that has to be — you know, it’s being done differently in the future than it is today, probably. And I love that. I love — I love when things change. When you change the rules, then we have to adapt. And I think that’s good. It’s good for the industry. It’s good for us to have to not get set in our ways, because that’s… the disruption never stops coming. Austin, what a pleasure. Loved having you.
[00:38:07] Alicia: Yes. It’s great.
[00:38:08] Austin: Yeah. Absolutely. Phillip, Alicia, I’ve really enjoyed this as well, and excited to finally be on here. So, if my return invite’s already been extended, you know, I’ll accept it.
[00:38:19] Phillip: It absolutely is. And just a reminder, he is the vice president and GM for Dollar General’s retail media network, Austin Leonard. Where can people find you online? I think you have some thought leadership out there. And podcasts — where can they get that?
[00:38:32] Austin: Yep. I’m on LinkedIn, slash Austin Leonard. You’ll find me there and, hopefully, you’ll get to see a lot of what I’m doing there and get sucked into that LinkedIn algo, because we’re really busy. We’re announcing a lot of things. So, but LinkedIn is the best place to find me.
[00:38:46] Phillip: Great. And dgmedianetwork.com has some of the latest over there. And thank you all for tuning into this episode of Future Commerce. If this conversation sparked something for you, like, follow, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. It helps more people to join this conversation. If you wanna bring more Future Commerce into your world, check out our print shop. I’ve got a whole shelf of books back here. We have beautiful books, journals, zines, handcrafted print. We’d love for you to put this on your bookshelf. Give it to your CMO, CTO, CIO, help them think a little deeper. We’ve got our VISIONS Summit coming up at the MoMA, New York City, Election Day — that’s November 3 — elect to come to VISIONS. You can learn more about that at futurecommerce.com/events. And remember, commerce shapes the future, because commerce is culture. We’ll see you next time.
